World

Facebook Releases First Transparency Report

Facebook released its first-ever transparency report on Tuesday, detailing the number of times governments around the world asked for information on its users and how many times the social networking company turned over the data requested.

The "Global Requests Report" covers the first six months of 2013 until June 30 and reveals that 71 countries requested data on a total of 37,954 to 38,954 users.

The total number is listed as a range because Facebook was allowed to release neither a specific number of requests nor a specific number of accounts requested by the United States government.

"We have reported the numbers for all criminal and national security requests to the maximum extent permitted by law," explained Facebook's General Counsel Colin Stretch in a blog post accompanying the report. "We continue to push the United States government to allow more transparency regarding these requests, including specific numbers and types of national security-related requests."

Apart from that instance, though, the company had never released a full-fledged transparency report before, something that Google has been doing for years. After Google started releasing its reports, other tech companies like Twitter and Microsoft followed its lead.

These companies, in light of revelations of NSA surveillance programs, have each asked the U.S. government for permission to be even more transparent and reveal the actual number of national security-related requests they receive.

With this new report, Facebook is hoping to shine light on how often the company turns over user data and collaborates with governments around the world.

"Transparency and trust are core values at Facebook. We strive to embody them in all aspects of our services, including our approach to responding to government data requests," Stretch wrote.

"We have stringent processes in place to handle all government data requests. We believe this process protects the data of the people who use our service, and requires governments to meet a very high legal bar with each individual request in order to receive any information about any of our users," he added, pointing to Facebook's guidelines on responding to government requests.

The U.S. placed the most requests for user data, clocking in at a range from 11,000 to 12,000 requests for 20,000 to 21,000 users. India was second, with 3,245 requests for 4,144 accounts, and the United Kingdom ranked in third with 1,975 requests for 2,337 users.

Facebook also revealed the number of times the requests produced "some data." Facebook handed over data to the U.S. 79% of the time, while only 50% and 68% of the time for India and the United Kingdom, respectively.

Privacy advocates applauded Facebook's first transparency report.

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and basic numbers about the scope of surveillance of Facebook users can serve as an important early warning system for detecting abuse or overuse of a government's authority to demand user data," said Kevin Bankston, an attorney at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

After the report was released, some people complained on Twitter that the report was only accessible by logging into Facebook. A Facebook spokesperson told Mashable that the report will soon be published on the company's Newsroom, where Facebook publishes its press releases and official blog posts.

Facebook announced in the blog post that this will not be its last transparency report. The company will release more reports "regularly in the future."

"In coming reports, we hope to be able to provide even more information about the requests we receive from law enforcement authorities," Stretch wrote.

A Facebook spokesperson contacted by Mashable declined to elaborate on how often these reports will be made public.

Mashable
is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.